November 2014 | Erik Almas Photography

Earlier this year I was asked to photograph an ad for Johnnie Walker’s red label.

The idea was to create exceptional experiences where a special whiskey would savor and seal that moment at the end of the day. This done in a setting as golden as the liquid itself…

The process starts with finding that golden hued landscape.

As we did our research we looked at places as far away as Namibia and locations like Sedona and Valley of Fire in the US.

We ended up with a combination of locations photographing the landscapes in Nevada at the Red Rock Canyon National Park and the tent and its people in London.

My own Johnnie Walker moment however was not in the evening…

Waking to the day while it’s still dark outside, heading out to location in anticipation of what the sun will bring when rising is always a thrill. After 20 years as a photographer the sensation of a sunrise has yet to wear off.

I often think about Homer’s Odyssey when I stand in the quiet moments of morning. He over and over refers to “dawn with her rose-red fingers” painting the landscape. Dawn represents the start of Odysseus’ journey and throughout the story the metaphor of dawn, and how it’s described, symbolizes his transformation/odyssey from immaturity to maturity and then fulfillment.

Dawns Rose-red fingers could not have been more apparent than when adding a pure red glow to those mountains at Red Rock. For me, it was a couple of exeptional mornings in Nevada, and if I didn’t have to drive back home, I would have savored that moment and, with a big sense of fulfillment, poured my whiskey …

It’s not one thing but many things brought into consciousness that shape the excitement of creating pictures.

A couple of months back I, through friends, got invited to a castle outside Tuscany. I don’t think any photographer could step into this place and not be excited to take pictures! It was visually stunning and truly inspiring.

As I stand in a place like this and take in the atmosphere I always ask myself about the stories this place have shaped.

Who has been standing at this very spot prior to myself? What did they do and what were they like?

Who would they remind me of? A character from a movie or someone I know?

Would they be a part of a recurring dream or some desire of my own? What in myself would I see in them?

From this mindset visuals start flowing and stories take shape. I then relate these stories back to myself and ask if I can bring my current life into it.

Something current that my heart is engaged in that will compel me to craft new images that has emotional meaning to me.

It then becomes a mishmash of ideas that somehow urge me to manifest them through pictures…

I like how these images stand on their own as both a travel journal and simple emotional context the spaces carry.

The true gift of the time spent there though was what I took home. Both the place and the experience there subtly instigated a change in how I approach my work.

So I can honestly say; I’m inspired!

Inspired by a lot of small things prompted by the experience at an amazing place in the Tuscan countryside.

So what inspires me?

It all does…

What’s needed though to bring it “all” together is a compelling enough instigator which creates a reason to capture or express, and this place in Tuscany was that for me…